The South Carolina man suspected in the shooting at a historic black church said he did it to spark a race war, according to reports.

He wanted to make sure they were dead.

Dylann Storm Roof, the white South Carolina loser charged with slaughtering nine black people in a historic Charleston church, pumped each of his victims full of bullets, according to court records released Friday.

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"After approximately an hour of studying, the defendant stood up and with malice and aforethought pulled out a handgun and began shooting at the parishioners inside the hall striking nine victims," the papers state. "All victims were hit multiple times."

But Roof, who had gotten to the Emanuel AME Church at 8:06 p.m. Wednesday, spared one worshipper.

"Prior to leaving the Bible study room he stood over a witness to be named later and uttered a racially inflammatory statement to the witness," the affidavit reads.

That witness was Felecia Sanders, who had played dead and lain on top of her daughter to protect her.

"Her life was spared because the shooter said, 'I'm not going to shoot you because I want you to tell everyone what happened'," Dot Scott, the president of Charleston's NAACP told CNN.

The court papers, released after Roof was ordered held on $1 million bond, also revealed that his father and uncle called the Charleston cops after recognizing him in video footage that emerged after the massacre.

Roof, 21, told the police in Shelby, N.C. who arrested him Thursday that he wanted to spark a race war - but he nearly backed out because "everyone was so nice to him," NBC News reported Friday.

He also told investigators he had researched the church and targeted it because it was a "historic African-Amercian church," a source told WBTV.

But Roof expressed no shame or remorse when he confessed to killing the six women and three men.

And other than confirming his name, age, and address, Roof said nothing at his first court appearance Friday via video from the Charleston County jail.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church re-opens for services

Then Roof was sent back to cell 1141B, which is located in a part of the jail where suicidal and other high-risk inmates are held. One of his neighbors is Michael Slager, a white former North Charleston cop who was charged with killing a fleeing black man named Walter Scott after shocking video footage of his last moments emerged.

The Justice Department is considering charging Roof with domestic terrorism. The FBI is investigating the mass shooting as a hate crime.

"The apparent motivations of the shooter remind us that racism remains a blight that we have to combat together," President Obama said at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco. "We have made great progress, but we have to be vigilant because it still lingers. And when it's poisoning the minds of young people, it betrays our ideals and tears our democracy apart."

Obama also said he was confident that the country would one day "do the right thing" and tighten gun controls.

Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley said he was "very grateful that (Roof) was behind bars" and there was "an audible gasp of relief" after Roof was arrested Thursday.

Riley spoke before a prayer vigil on Friday night "within the bosom of this community."

"He had this crazy idea that he would divide us," Riley said. "All he did was unite us and make us love each other more."

Meanwhile, a steady stream of people - many of them in tears - paid their respects at the memorial to the slain victims in front the church.

A high school dropout from Lexington, S.C. who was living in a trailer park, Roof was arrested 220 miles from the historic house of worship that police said he defiled with a barrage of bullets.

Friends said Roof believed "blacks were taking over the world" and wanted to save the "white race." In the photo he posted of himself on Facebook, he had the apartheid-era South African flag patch sewn on his jacket.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Roof should pay for his crimes with his life.

"We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty," the Republican said Friday on the "Today" show.

Roof's divorced parents, Ben Roof and Amelia Cowles, expressed condolences in their first statement since the tragedy.

Cowles' former landlord said he remembered the accused killer as a child.

"I just remember when Dylann was a blond little thing playing in the yard," the landlord said. "It's hard to imagine what he became."

Roof's sister, Amber, was supposed to get married on Sunday. Her minister announced Friday the wedding has been postponed. Tellingly, Roof was not listed as being in the wedding party in the invitation to his sister's wedding to Michael Tyo, a U.S. Army recruiter.

Roof bought his .45-caliber handgun at a Charleston gun store in April with birthday money from his parents.

Roof was arrested a day after the Wednesday shooting, which left nine people dead. (Chuck Burton/AP)

On Wednesday evening, Roof sat quietly in the basement, the .45 hidden behind a fannypack, while the victims were in the midst of a Bible study class for an hour before he started shooting, police said. His presence did not alarm anyone because plenty of tourists visit the historic building and the church welcomes all visitors, Charleston leaders said.